Thierry Henry has excused Chris Smalling for allowing Everton to score a third goal in Manchester United's 3-0 loss on Sunday.

Kevin Mirallas raced onto a through ball from Ross Barkley to slot home past David De Gea in the 74th minute at Goodison Park in the Toffees' impressive win.

The pass was clearly meant for Romelu Lukaku, who was definitely in an offside position, and Henry feels the current ruling helped out Everton after Smalling had made the correct decision.

"Everton were fortunate," Henry said on Sky Sports. "You want to give the striker the benefit of the doubt. We want to see goals, but Smalling's doing what you want to see a centre-back do.

"Obviously Mirrallas carries on and scores a goal but when you look at it from a different angle, that ball is being played to Lukaku. Therefore Smalling stepping up holds a great line.

"The defence did well and Smalling did well catching Lukaku offside. I repeat that ball was played to Lukaku. That should be offside and they all stop. Now you shouldn't do that because we all know the rule and that's a good goal at the end of the day.

"I'm just saying, to help the defenders out, it was great movement from Smalling and he recognises the ball is for Lukaku and steps out."

James McCarthy and John Stones had earlier given Everton a two-goal buffer as they won for the fifth time in six outings to inflict a second-straight defeat on United.